Korean Lessons ᚛ Level 4 - Intermediate Korean #1 (Lessons 91 to 120) ᚛ Lesson 105 - Since in Korean, "it has been ... since" [-(으)ㄴ 지]

Since in Korean, "it has been ... since" [-(으)ㄴ 지]

In this course: ㄴ 지 / 은 지

Since in Korean

In Korean, to express that an action has taken place since a certain moment, we use the following structure:
[Action 1: … Adjectival form -(으)ㄴ] 지 [Action 2]

We saw the past adjectival form in -(으)ㄴ in the chapter on adjectives in Korean.

가다 (= to go) → 간 지 (= since I went)
먹다 (= to eat) → 먹은 지 (= since I ate)
살다 (= to live) → 산 지 (= since I lived)

밥 먹은 지 오래되서 배고파졌어.
→ Since it's been a long time since I ate, I've gotten hungry (more and more, little by little).

우리 못 본 지 오래됐어. 얼굴 까먹겠다!
→ It's been a long time since we last saw each other. I'm going to forget your face!

Expressing the time that has passed

되다 is a verb found in many structures in Korean. Here, it will be used to express the fact that a certain amount of time has passed since an action occurred. To do this, we generally use the following structure:
[Adjectival form -(으)ㄴ] 지 [Duration] 되다

Since it is an action that started in the past and has continued over time (or not), the verb 되다 is conjugated in the past tense in this structure.

우리는 결혼한 지 10년이 됐어요.
→ We have been married for 10 years. (Lit: Since we got married, 10 years have passed.)

- 서울에 산 지 얼마나 됐습니까?
→ How long have you been living in Seoul?
- 서울에 산 지 8개월이 됐습니다.
→ I have been living in Seoul for 8 months.

나는 한국어를 공부한 지 2주일이 됐어.
→ I have been studying Korean for 2 weeks.

저는 그 친구를 안 만난 지 2년이 됐어요.
→ It’s been 2 years since I last saw that friend.

널 기다린 지 오래 됐어.
→ I’ve been waiting for you for a long time.

학교를 졸업한 지 벌써 10년이 됐네요.
→ It’s already been 10 years since I graduated from school!

영화관에 안 간 지 오래 됐어요.
→ It’s been a long time since I went to the movie theater.